Private and Public Collections: Go for Conservation!

The conservation of rare species often requires the maintenance of an ex situ,
or off-site, collection in addition to the monitoring of plants in their natural
habitats. "Off-site" (or ex situ) work happens away from the plant's
habitat. "On-site" (or in situ) work occurs at the plant's habitat
(home in the wild). In situ and ex situ methods combined increase
the plant's chance of survival in the wild.

Tropical plants, also bromeliads, are popular ornamental and indoor plants, as they
provide a diverse and exotic collection of plants. Consequently many bromeliad species
(an estimate ranges around 60% of natural bromeliad species) can be found in ex situ
collections, far away from their natural habitats. They can be found in private
collections of plant aficionados, of commercial growers as well as in public collections
of botanical gardens worldwide. There typical ex situ techniques might involve
the creation of living collections (either in soil or tissue culture), or long-term
storage collections (e.g. seed or spore banks, or in liquid nitrogen as a bank of
cryo-preserved material). Historically, ex situ techniques have been widely
and successfully used to conserve plants of commercial value, but have been under-used
in the conservation of wild plants. The importance and use of ex situ techniques
in conservation has increased over the past decade thanks, in part, to their recognition
in the Convention on Biological Diversity
(UN, Rio de Janeiro, 1992). More recent, the
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation contains specific targets for the
ex situ conservation of threatened species.

Even so, in all kinds of ex situ collections, important problem are that

the genetic diversity of the species is insufficiently represented,

the genetic identity of species is lost due to artificial hybridization, and

the natural evolutionary process is not continuing, in other words there is no adaptation
to steadily changing environmental conditions.

Genetic diversity is the primary source for variation in morphological appearance
of plants as well as for the physiological adaptability, which acts as a buffer
against harmful environmental changes. The current trend on hybridisation of originally
non-neighbouring bromeliads therefore, is a threat to natural bromeliads since the
original genetic information gets lost and fresh plant material is always needed.
The irreversible loss of single genes or combinations of genes in genotypes, the
so-called gene-erosion, is of major concern to today’s conservationists. In
the context of conservation the collection of species and their vegetative propagation
with pups as clones should be favoured

The private and public collections of bromeliads make up an important part of conservation
efforts. Botanical gardens were originally founded to host large collections of
plants for research as well as for the public to explore exotic or rare species.
In regard to the current global biodiversity crisis, tasks and responsibilities
are growing, especially since such institutions have a certain educational role.
In terms of the educational tasks, botanical gardens can contribute to the general
understanding of biodiversity, its values and threats, and thus create acceptance
for conservation and related legislation. In addition, botanical gardens hold an
important portion of the world’s genetic diversity resources by establishing
seed banks, nurseries and tissue cultures in laboratory test tubes for parts of
the global flora. The new role and activities of botanical gardens for conservation
has been acknowledged and defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity’s
Art. 9 as e.g.:

Collection of plant material

Identification of species

Research (taxonomy)

Creation of accession database

Establishment of germ-plasma banks to safeguard threatened species

Intermediate cultivation for a later reintroduction in appropriate in-situ habitats

Provision of conservation relevant data to conservationists and the countries of
origin

Proper documentation

Bromeliad growers and collectors can enhance conservation efforts through their
own collections. If you care for your collection in an appropriate way, you reduce
the risk of diseases and mortality rates. By providing a vital population with high
genetic variance, you can contribute to the world wide markets of bromeliad species
and take pressure off of wild species.

Ex-situ programs are not a replacement for the conservation of wild plants and wild
areas, and their effectiveness should not be overestimated. But such measures can
be complementary to in-situ conservation, which represents a key action to conserve
the viability of ecosystems and biodiversity, which, among others, is so essential
for human welfare.